Murad III
This replica exhibited in your room
is of one of the 87 talismanic shirts from the Collection of Sultan’s
Clothing at Topkapi Palace and it is considered to have belonged to Murat III
according to the prayers, motives and meanings of the talisman on the shirt
and therefore was adorned with one of his
poems…
May this talisman eternalise your
mercy… Protect you… Give you strength and
power…
He was the 12th Sultan of the Empire;
medium-height, hazel eyed, fair skinned… He was known for his generosity,
compassion and helpfulness. He became one of the scholar-sultans of Ottoman
Empire by virtue of the classes he took from ulemas during his time at the
palace as the son of the Sultan. The unfortunate news roamed from the palace
when he was the governor of Sanjak in Manisa. The messenger Grand Vizier sent
was the bearer of the news that his father Selim II had
died…
It was time to leave even though he was in enormous
pain… He left Manisa to become the sultan of Ottoman Empire. He was so much
in grief with the biggest pain of his entire life that he did not wait for
the ship Grand Vizier had sent for him and he got on a small boat leaving
from Mudanya Harbor.
It was quite late; windy and raining.
He was exhausted and thirsty; there was not enough water on the boat. Yet he
needed to stand up, stay strong irregardless of everything… Even though it
did not help his thirst, getting soaked under the rain was keeping him
awake…
He promised himself, in such flow of emotion, to
have a fountain built at the first land he steps on. They were now near
Bahcekapi coast where he was going to have a fountain built in future
years.
They finally arrived at the doors of the palace.
They brought the son of the Sultan to his mother Nurbanu Sultan. She threw
herself to the arms of his son crying out. She was now the Mother
Sultan…
Murat III ascended to the throne. Mother Sultan
ordered a talismanic shirt for her son right away. She wanted a shirt like a
shield to be tailored to guard her son from everything. The Head Augur
examined the stars to calculate and define the magical propitious moment for
talisman to be effective. And the white cottons were attentively
weaved…
The cottons were finally ready to be written on;
now it was time for the gifted calligraphers. The whole noble Quran was
written on the shirt. The writings were calligraphed in columns in black and
red coloured ink. There were no other patterns used on the shirt apart from
the squares on both upper sides and the sleeves. The prayers everywhere on
the shirt made it so powerful that the shirt was called "The Armour
Shirt"…
It was 1582 when the shirt was finally
ready. The shirt gifted to Murat III by his mother was going to be his
protector under any circumstances. Murat III reigned for twenty years.
Ottoman Empire reached its broadest frontier during his time. Sultan Murat
whose shrine is today located at Hagia Sophia along with his numerous works
was also famous for his artistic personality…
